The Potter Twins and the Sorcerer's Stone
by InkedRose
Summary: Young Aralynn grew up thinking herself as a member of the Weasley family, but when she starts Hogwarts for the first time, and meets Harry Potter, her whole existence is put to question.


It is a peaceful Halloween night until a loud roaring wakes the villagers. Groggy men and women roll out of bed and stumble to their rumbling windows to try and seek out the source to the frightening growl. As they look up to the indigo sky, they can see nothing but a small ball of light soaring unsteadily towards the countryside. Thankfully for them, the disruption did not return and they can fall back into their slumber. Over the hills and through the clouds, the light continues to swerve back and forth. There is no one to wake on this side of Ottery St. Catchpole, and so the operator to the roaring object is no longer too concerned. If you were to peer through the shadows, you would see a large man on a powder blue motorcycle gliding unsteadily along the air.

The man grips the handlebars tight and does what he can to keep the motorcycle on track. The sidecar attached to his vehicle holds two bundles of blankets, both with plaid patterns. One is red and pink and the other is blue and green. Two tiny, little faces are poking out of the blankets. Each with a fresh, lightning bolt shaped cut on their foreheads. Both infants are asleep, believe it or not. Unlike the villagers from the town, the children are not disrupted by the engines roar, but rather lulled by it.

The large man directing the flying motorcycle takes a hold of his goggles and adjusts them over his enormous face. The man has long, wild waist-length brown hair and a long, scraggly beard that he could tuck into his belt. His eyes, as they peer through the goggles, are black and beady. The man is enormous in height, as well as width. If he were to casually stride up to a group of people, they would all shriek and terror and flee from him. However, his rosy, wind-bitten cheeks make him seem almost cheerful and pleasant to be around.

The motorcycle begins to lower towards the ground and it sputters in protest, but the man pays no mind to it. The wheels hit against the ground with a great thud that rocks the entire structure, but the bundles of blankets remain at ease and asleep. The large man slows and comes to a stop just in front of a sign made from two wooden planks that has 'THE BURROW' painted on it in scrawly handwriting. After reassuring himself that the babies tied within the bundles were safe and going to be unharmed, he took exactly twelve large strides up to a home that looks unstable. It is grubby and tall with several tilting towers, and it almost looks as if it had been added to from its once tiny, original state.

With three heavy knocks that the giant meant to be gentle, a small woman with a plump figure and vicious red hair opens the door. As she looks up to the gigantic man, she doesn't seem alarmed, but rather enlightened by his presence. "Ah, Hagrid!" the woman squeaks in delight. "What brings you here on this fine night?"

"Good evenin', Molly," the giant by the name of Rubeus Hagrid greeted. "Very fine evenin', yes," he agrees with a nod of his head. "I've come on some frightful business, yes I have."

"Frightful business?" Molly Weasley replies with a tilt of her round head. "What do you mean, Hagrid? What business could be so frightful that you show up on my doorstep at half past midnight?"

"Lily an' James were murdered," the giant says in a hush voice as he looks back and forth conspiratorially. "Dumbledore sent me here."

"Lily and James are dead?" Molly asks in a morose tone as tears begin to form in her eyes. "No, no," she protests. "That can't be. They have children – twins, in fact. They cannot be dead!"

"'Fraid to say they are," says Hagrid, "Murdered in the dead of night by You-Know-Who."

Molly shook her head ferociously for a long moment before she gathered herself together and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "My dear friends…" she mourns for a moment. "What happened to the children? Please tell me the children are alright!"

"That's why I'm here," Hagrid says with a brief nod of his head. "You-Know-Who tried to kill 'em, as well. Summat happened, however. When he tried to kill 'em, they ended up jus' fine. Lost all his power, though, yes he did. They kids were left with this funky lookin' cuts on their foreheads. I'm thinkin' they'll scar up real nice."

"How can that be?" the woman questions, looking both appalled and relieved. "No one has ever survived The Killing Curse."

"No," the giant agrees. "No one has, sept these two o'course. Lily an' James left a note sayin' if anythin' were ter happen that you should be contacted. Dumbledore sent me here because the twins ain't got nowhere to go. He was hopin' you'd take one of 'em in."

"One of them?" the woman squeaks, giving the large man a questioning expression in return. "What will happen to the second?"

"Dumbledore wants 'em separated. They're gonna be famous, we all know it, and he doesn't want 'em around that life. He thinks it's best if they grow up not knowin' each other, and not knowin' about what happened tonight!" Hagrid exclaims as he attempts to mock the voice of Albus Dumbledore.

"Every child in our world will know their names," the woman says and shakes her head for a long moment. "How is he going to keep them from finding out?"

"One of 'em is goin' ter live with their aunt and uncle. The Dursley's – they're Muggles. That'll keep it nice and private, yes it will," Hagrid says as each corner of his beard perks up in a smile. "Whichever one yeh take in will need more protection. Dumbledore knows that yeh'll do a fine job."

"I wish I could take them both," Molly sighs. "What are their names?"

"Harry an' Aralynn," he replies with a nod. "I'll get 'em both for yeh."

With that, Rubeus Hagrid takes twelve large strides back to the motorcycle, scoops both bundles of blankets up in his arms before returning to Molly at a more leisurely pace. He holds out each of his arms to her to show her both of the children. "This one's Harry," Hagrid says and gestures to the blue and green bundle with his nose. "An' this one's Aralynn," he says as he gestures to the red and pink bundle.

Molly gasps in awe and beams down at the children. "They both look so much like their parents," she says. "Harry looks like James and Aralynn looks like Lily – even her red hair," she says and ruffles what tiny bit of hair there is.

"Yeh can pick whichever one yeh want," Hagrid says and nods with a small grin on his face.

"I'll take Aralynn," Molly smiles. "I could use another girl around the house," she says and shares a light laugh with the giant.

"I s'pose I'll be takin' the little tyke here on down to Surrey," Hagrid says and smiles over to Molly again. "I'll be seein' yeh soon, Aralynn," he says and gazes down at the red and pink bundle of blankets. The giant sniffles as tears roll down his beard. "Be a good little girl."

The short and plump woman smiles up to the giant for a moment. "You'll see her in no time, I promise," she says and brushes some of her curly, red hair behind her ears. "As soon as she starts her first year at Hogwarts, you will both be reunited."

"Best of luck to yeh both," says the man as he nods and begins to stride back over to his motorcycle.

"Have a good evening, Hagrid!" Molly says and waves him off as she backs into The Burrow and shuts the door behind her. Soon enough the roaring from the engine of Hagrid's motorcycle would once again wake the villagers.

Molly gently rocks the sleeping infant in her arms as she looks down at her with happiness glittering in her eyes. "You're such a pretty little thing," she says to her in a soft voice.

Footsteps begin to come down several flights of the stairs towering up into The Burrow. A tall man, somewhat thin man with balding hair comes down and looks at Molly before arching a red eyebrow at the bundle of blankets in her arms. "What's going on, Molly?" he asks.

"Hagrid stopped by," she says, seeming mesmerized by the baby.

"From Hogwarts?" Arthur Weasley questions, knowing the answer to his own question as he peers out the window of the house, "What brought him here so late and in the middle of the school year?"

Suddenly, Molly looks solemn. "Lily and James Potter are dead," she says and turns her head to look at him. "Dumbledore wanted us to take in one of their twins. I would have taken in both, if I could."

"You never go against the word of Albus Dumbledore," Arthur says and he stands by Molly to look down at the baby, smiling sheepishly. "You took in their daughter. What is her name?" he asks as his fingers twirl around her tufts of red hair.

"Aralynn," Molly says before she pauses. "I remember Lily telling me about the twins. Harry's middle name is James and Aralynn's is Nicole."

"It seems that she is going to fit in well with our family," Arthur says with a smile. "Her red hair works well with the rest of us."

"Oh yes, of course it does," Molly agrees with a small giggle.

"We will have to tell Charlie, Bill and Percy. Fred and George are still too small to understand," he says as his attention is drawn to the stairwell by the cries of the newborn Ginevra Weasley.

Molly hands Aralynn to Arthur and goes up the stairs as quickly as her legs will allow. "Of course Ronald and Ginny are never going to figure out the difference," he says down to the sleeping bundle with a smile on his face. "I will do everything I can to keep you safe, Aralynn. I hope you realize that someday."

From the middle section of The Burrow, Molly's soothing voice can be heard as she tries to coax Ginny back into sleeping. Arthur begins to move up the stairs cautiously with the bundle in his arms. "I will protect you from the fame," he says to her softly.

Molly and Arthur meet one another outside of Ginny's room and together they look down at the baby. "Is Ginny alright?" he asks.

"Oh yes," Arthur's wife agrees. "Had a nightmare, I presume, but I got her to go back to sleep rather easily. Where will Aralynn sleep?"

"She can sleep in Ron's room with him. I'll get her one of Fred and Georges' old cribs," Arthur says and he lays the baby down in Molly's arms and disappears down the stairs.

The plump woman travels up several more flights of stairs and she soon comes to the top of The Burrow and goes into a very orange room with posters of the Quidditch team known as the Chudley Cannons. In a crib that is painted white, there is an infant boy with his little blankets pulled up to the bottom of his ears and the top of his head with his fuzzy red hair sticks out. Molly smiles over to the sleeping boy as she rocks Aralynn in her arms.

Arthur soon comes in Ron's room with an old crib and mattress to fit. He sets them down, sets the mattress firmly along the structure then takes the sleeping girl from his wife's arms. He lays her down on the mattress and adjusts her blanket to be wrapped around her more firmly.

Together, Molly and Arthur Weasley gape down at the eighth addition to the Weasley children. "Do you think we can shield her from the fame?" the woman asks her husband as she looks down at the child of her deceased friend.

"I do," Arthur answers and brushes his fingertips along her cheek. "She will one day discover what is lying ahead of her."

On that fateful night Aralynn Nicole Potter became Aralynn Nicole Weasley and her life transformed forever, only she didn't know. No one could tell what was going to become of The Twins Who Lived. The struggles, the pain, the love and sacrifice lying ahead of them would never be known until the time came.


End file.
